I, Who Hate Marine So Much, Have Become A Future Nika?

Chapter 280: Trait: Concealing the Sky with One Hand

As Zhong Cang's palm condensed, his enlightenment also came to an end.

After regaining his clarity, Zhong Cang looked at the giant hand in his sea of consciousness and couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

First of all, it should be noted that Zhong Cang did not completely succeed.

He was unable to encompass the heavens and earth within his palm.

As a result, his palm did not possess the power to bring down a small world with a thunderous crash.

But he did not completely fail either.

Relying on the power of the Five Elements, his vast knowledge of formations, Heavenly Heart, the Five Spirits, and the rotation of the Five Elements, Zhong Cang was able to condense a giant hand using his mana.

This giant hand could conceal the sky, reaching up to pluck stars and capture the moon, or descend into the sea to capture dragons. When it struck, it could create a terrifying attack that was akin to the collapse of the heavens. It was truly formidable.

"Concealing the sky with one hand, this trait is not bad."

...

On this side, Zhong Cang felt delighted by the advancement of his cultivation technique.

The direct disciples of the Cloud Firmament Sect and the inner sect geniuses were ecstatic because they had learned Heavenly Heart.

Both of them had a bright future ahead of them.

However, while some were happy, there were also those who were anxious and impatient because they had not yet grasped Heavenly Heart.

As for these people, Zhong Cang did not lower his standards again and bring them into the fold.

After imparting his teachings, Zhong Cang also discovered something: not everyone could have new insights in their cultivation techniques.

Although learning from me leads to life and resembling me leads to death, the latter is much easier.

For those cultivators who could only follow the path paved by their predecessors, their experiences in cultivation had no effect on Zhong Cang.

What made Zhong Cang even more uncomfortable was that not only were those cultivators without the spirit of innovation useless, but even those who had insights did not always have useful ones.

It wasn't that there was a lack of feedback, but rather that there was too much repetition.

"There truly are no two completely identical leaves in the world, but there are countless similar ones."

Repetitive and similar insights meant that after the initial rapid increase, it would take even a dozen or so Qi Refining and Foundation Building cultivators a whole day to increase Zhong Cang's proficiency in his cultivation technique by just ten points.

And that was only if luck was on his side.

If luck was not on his side, Zhong Cang might not gain anything at all in several days of cultivation in Qi Refining and Foundation Building.

"Qi Refining and Foundation Building cultivations are too low, with too little comprehension. They often overlap with many of my own insights. It's completely foolish to rely on them to elevate the technique to the Grandmaster level... Indeed, there are limits to imparting knowledge and teaching."

After a sigh of emotion, Zhong Cang realized that imparting knowledge was not an all-encompassing Great Dao.

Especially when others lack Zhong Cang's comprehension, it is impossible for them to create powerful techniques at the Foundation Building or Gold Core stages.

Only Nascent Soul, and even Soul Formation, can achieve that.

"No, Nascent Soul and Soul Formation won't work either. They don't have the experiences from my past life, and their creativity is limited. Most of the techniques they create are only at the First Grade level of the Five Organs Divine Palace True Form Diagram. Although these spells are good, they have to compete with the countless techniques passed down in the cultivation world... The number of people who can learn them is even fewer."

"And Nascent Soul and Soul Formation cultivators, with their higher cultivation realms, consider the insights provided by low-level cultivators to be insignificant... No wonder there are so few who choose the path of imparting knowledge."

After a sigh, Zhong Cang reflected on his good fortune.

"I created the Heavenly Heart at the Foundation Building stage, and it is also useful for the Gold Core and Nascent Soul stages. Their insights often surpass mine, allowing me to progress rapidly."

"If not for that, my proficiency in techniques wouldn't have improved so quickly... Wait, it seems that others have had similar experiences. Their proficiency in techniques also wouldn't improve as fast as mine."

Comprehension is not something that belongs to oneself. Zhong Cang has a proficiency panel and the Once Proven, Forever Proven ability, which allows him to quickly convert others' insights into his own experiences.

But ordinary cultivators don't have these abilities. Therefore, even though their minds are filled with inspiration and comprehension, most of it will still fade away. Only one or two percent will be retained and become their own experiences.

There are already many repeated insights, and only one or two percent can be retained... It can only be said that the normal way of imparting knowledge is not as wonderful as it seems.

...

While ordinary disciples are anxious about not yet mastering the Heavenly Heart, Zhong Cang is troubled by the abundance of repeated insights.

However, in the Cloud Firmament Sect, the most anxious ones are not them, but the cultivators from other domains, the Dragon Race descendants, and the independent cultivators who prefer to go their own way.

At the beginning, they were not so eager.

Although the effectiveness of the Heavenly Heart had already spread, many talented individuals from other domains and Dragon Race descendants believed that the techniques taught by Zhong Cang would be a simplified version.

Moreover, powerful spells are difficult to learn and cultivate. They didn't think that all the people in the Cloud Firmament Sect would be able to master them, nor did they believe that they would fall behind.

However, this relaxed mindset was soon shattered.

—Large sects have intelligence departments and often arrange spies and scouts in other sects.

Relying on the information passed on by spies, many talented individuals from other domains learned on the first day of Zhong Cang's teachings that the techniques he taught were actually the complete versions.

The effectiveness of the Heavenly Heart was exactly the same as the legends.

What made their hearts race even faster was that Zhong Cang possessed a special sound technique that allowed those who listened to personally experience the effectiveness of the Heavenly Heart. This greatly increased the efficiency of the disciples' cultivation.

Upon hearing this news, those true inheritors from other domains couldn't sit still.

When the teaching began, Yan Lingdie, Yan Lingwei, Zhong Yingying, as well as Zhong Cang's concubine Xiang Ling, disciple Ling Que, and many others surrounded them.

These people included not only disciples from the Cloud Firmament Sect but also many cultivators from other domains.

They came from afar, willing to pay ten times the price, just hoping that Xiang Ling and the others could say a good word in front of Zhong Cang, so that Zhong Cang could also pass on the Heavenly Heart to them.

Unfortunately, at that time, Xiang Ling and the others were unwilling to mention the plea of the disciples of Cloud Firmament Sect, let alone the request of the foreign disciples.

In this situation, the transmission of the foreign inheritance could only be anxious.

Then, on the third day of the transmission, their urgent mood doubled.

- What made them so anxious was not that someone had learned the Heavenly Heart. Zhong Cang had said that on the seventh day, someone would just be able to grasp the basics of the Heavenly Heart.

However, although they couldn't grasp the Heavenly Heart, after paying a huge amount of spiritual stones and treasures, Zhong Cang attached the Heavenly Heart of the 2nd realm to them.

And through Zhong Cang's instructions, he informed those paying cultivators that they didn't need to stay around Shattered Star Lake. They could choose a good environment within a hundred miles to cultivate.

With the support of the Shattered Star Lake dojo, Zhong Cang could easily transmit the Heavenly Heart to their consciousness within a hundred miles through the Twelve Melodies of Jade Heaven Tower.

A good cultivation environment, combined with the 2nd realm Heavenly Heart that harmonized with heaven and earth, allowed many cultivators who had reached a bottleneck in their cultivation to break through their limits.

Watching the disciples of Cloud Firmament Sect break through their techniques, how could the foreign inheritance not be envious?

And on the tenth day, the urgent mood of the foreign cultivators rose another level.

And from this day on, Zhong Cang's Heavenly Heart truly stirred up the situation, causing countless people to flock to Cloud Firmament Sect.

...

Cultivation is difficult, the higher you go, the harder it gets.

Ascending from Qi Refining to Foundation Building, there is a shortcut with the Foundation Building Pill.

But there is no shortcut to ascend from Foundation Building to Gold Core.

Not only is there no shortcut, but there is also the test of the Forty-Nine Heavenly Tribulations.

This makes the chance of ascending from Foundation Building to Gold Core in the cultivation world only one percent.

Even a large sect like Cloud Firmament Sect can only increase that one percent to two or three percent.

Swallowing a Gold Core into one's abdomen, one's fate is determined by oneself, not by heaven. This realm is wonderful, but it is not an easy task to reach this realm.

It can be said that within Cloud Firmament Sect alone, there are thousands of Foundation Building cultivators trapped at the threshold of Gold Core.

Many Foundation Building cultivators have even given up hope.

But on the tenth day of Zhong Cang's transmission, an event occurred that caused the old Foundation Building cultivators of Cloud Firmament Sect to boil with excitement.

Within Cloud Firmament Sect, there is a Foundation Building cultivator named Bie Weng, who is already 160 years old.

After cultivating diligently for 150 years, his techniques had already reached the level of a grandmaster and had been polished for thirty years.

However, as his realm increased, the one percent of inspiration in his cultivation surpassed the 99 percent of his sweat.

Just like Bie Weng, even though he had polished his techniques for thirty years, his lack of comprehension prevented him from finding the opportunity to transform his techniques into those of a grandmaster.

As a result, his cultivation realm was also trapped at the peak of Foundation Building for thirty years.

Thirty years of stagnation was enough to make people despair.

But Bie Weng did not give up. Driven by an unwilling heart, this old cultivator exhausted all his wealth to obtain a spot for the attachment of a 2nd realm Heavenly Heart.

Whether it was luck or his savings were already sufficient, lacking only a bit of inspiration.

In any case, that old Foundation Building cultivator, under the attachment of the 2nd realm Heavenly Heart, sensed a trace of inspiration and seized the opportunity to complete the promotion of his techniques.

After the promotion of his techniques, he had long been prepared and attempted to break through to Gold Core within the sect on that day.

Although the Gold Core he formed was only of the lower three grades, it was considered very inferior in Zhong Cang's eyes and had no possibility of forming an Infant Formation.

What's more important is that after ascending to Gold Core, his status and strength increased. His lifespan increased from 108 to 600 (lower three grades)!

(End of this chapter)

Now, in front of those cultivators who have reached a dead end, a path to heaven has appeared. Who wouldn't go crazy?

In the cultivation world, there are many Foundation Building cultivators who, in order to survive, have turned themselves into something neither human nor ghost.

Some of them even knelt directly in front of Zhong Cang and the others.

And there is a saying that there is nothing more important in life than death.

Survival and reproduction are the most instinctive pursuits of all living beings.

He succeeded.

This incident greatly stimulated the other elderly Foundation Building cultivators within the sect.

That was an increase of three times out of thin air... no, for Bie Weng, who was 160 years old, he originally only had twenty years left to live, but now his upper limit reached six hundred, which meant that his lifespan increased by twenty-one times out of thin air!

They were not the craziest ones. The craziest ones were the elderly Foundation Building cultivators from the foreign lands and the Independent Cultivators.

Those people almost went crazy, pleading with Zhong Cang, Yan Lingdie, and others, just hoping for a chance.

There are also cultivators who would cruelly use others, even refining pills using their own children, just to stay alive.

But no matter how inferior the Gold Core was, it was still a Gold Core.

Don't think this is an exaggeration. A dying person can do anything for their lifespan.

In life, there are only two words: life and death.

The extension of lifespan made Bie Weng, even though he achieved Gold Core, shed tears of joy.